movies galore (& more)

the oscar nominees were announced on tuesday - and given my recent obsession with movie watching, it should come as no real shocker that i was anxiously waiting for them to be announced. i'm really excited to watch them this year, and i want to be prepared for them. in the past i've watched them and not really known what half of the movies were about. this time i'm planning a movie night for the friday before oscar night to watch some of the nominated movies. a number of the nominees are still out in the theater, so i've spent some time this weekend going to see those. in fact, i've seen a number of movies this weekend. I saw Baarìa with Mike on Friday night. It's an Italian movie, by the same director (Giuseppe Tornatore) who did Cinema Paradiso, which is one of my favorite movies (in the uncut version anyway). I found that while I did enjoy Baarìa, it wasn't nearly as good as Cinema Paradiso was.

Mike is working on his comprehensive exams, so I didn't bug him to come with me for the rest of my weekend adventures, and to be quite honest, it was kind of nice to go out and spend some time alone checking out things I love. I went to the Bellevue Art Museum to see the Ginny Ruffner exhibit. She's a sculptor who works with glass and metal. I found her use of glass totally refreshing. I feel the same way I do about glass as I do about ceramics. I think they both have this time honored stigma of being used for vessels and practical purposes. Go in your kitchen, I'm willing to bet you have both glass and ceramic dishes in your cupboard. Though both (of course) are used for other types of artwork, you also tend to see a lot of glass bowls and ceramic pots even in museums. I always love it when I see something that totally breaks out of those traditional uses for those materials, and Ginny Ruffner certainly does that. Her work explores a theme of genetic engineering, and hybrid forms that incorporate aspects of the animal kingdom as well as the plant kingdom. Though her work is relatively abstract, you do get the feeling of animalistic as well as plant based elements. More than anything else, I enjoyed her use of color. She used it in really surprising ways, especially contrasted with the metal. In one piece in particular she used glass that was similar in hue to the metal that was used, and relied on the differences in surface quality to differentiate between the two, the glass being somewhat transparent and luminescent, while the metal was not buffed and left somewhat dull, and did not radiate light, but instead had something of a dull mirror-like quality to it. In other pieces she did just the opposite, where the metal was almost a neutral backdrop for incredibly bright spots of luminescent color. I really enjoyed her work, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing a documentary on her next weekend at the Tacoma Art Museum. (the exhibit at BAM goes through next weekend, and if you're in town and have the time - I definitely recommend it).

while I'm on the topic of glass art, i might as well share that I have been invited to apply for a scholarship for a summer class at Pilchuck. I've never used glass as a medium before (unless you count an awful stained glass piece that I did in middle school, and have since lost), but this class is focused on painting with glass, and past experience with glass is not a requirement. After my very thought provoking experience with using clay like paint - I would very much be interested in experimenting with glass from a painter's perspective. My problem is that the class would be a fairly expensive couple of weeks. I had just decided not to apply at this time, when I got an e-mail from them inviting me to apply for the scholarship. So I'm going to go ahead and apply for the program and the scholarship later this week and see what happens. It would be an amazing experience - so cross your fingers for me!

I spent the rest of my saturday down in Tacoma at the Grand. I saw back-to-back oscar nominees: True Grit, and The King's Speech. I enjoyed them both, but I liked The King's Speech somewhat better. Seeing True Grit jogged my memory, and I am almost certain that I've seen the 1969 original. I vaguely recall that I was unable to sleep one night when I was living in Pittsburgh, and caught it on tv, and the original was quite good if my memory is accurate. I find myself somewhat confused, though, that Jeff Bridges is nominated for Best Actor, while Hailee Steinfeld is only being nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting role. I would argue that Hailee was the leading character in that movie, while Jeff Bridges held the supporting role - considering that the movie is about Mattie's (Hailee's character) determination to catch her father's killer. (though I should note that I did really love Jeff Bridges performance in the movie). I'd personally like to see Helena Bonham Carter get the oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on The King's Speech. Considering her past movies (Alice in Wonderland, Fight Club, Harry Potter, etc), it seemed like an unusual role for her - but she really stepped up and did an amazing job in the role.

I got up this morning and went straight to the theater downtown Kent to see The Fighter. I hadn't actually heard much about this one, but thought I might as well take advantage of the fact that it was still in my local theater to see it while I can. And I'm glad I did - it was a great movie. Of the nominees I've seen this weekend, I'd choose this one for Best Picture over True Grit and King's Speech. (though personally I prefer Black Swan over all of them).

Then I went straight down to Tacoma to see Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was playing at a theater downtown - and I always think it's great to be able to see the great old ones when they're in the theater. Mike couldn't go with me (because of those exams), and I had bought tickets in advance. I asked around to see if anyone else would like to go, but in the end I went to this one by myself too. Which again was kind of nice. I've enjoyed having some time to myself this weekend. I donated my extra ticket at the door and asked them if they thought anybody could use it. The lady taking tickets told me she thought she knew just the guy who could use it. She said something about he was off looking for his wife. I didn't quite catch the story - but I do hope that someone was able to use it. It was a fun one - and of course, I do usually like James Stewart.

My favorite cousin is moving back to WA, and is flying in next Saturday. I learned yesterday that he's really been wanting to go and see Black Swan. I also learned he's a big Aronofsky fan. (to which I told him that he was a seriously cool relative, since I didn't think anyone else I'm related to would know who Aronofsky is, nevermind be a fan of his work). We agreed that The Fountain was fantastic, and "criminally underrated" to quote my cousin. I told him I think Black Swan is even better. Since he'll be in town so soon, I invited him to go and see it with me next weekend. I'd absolutely love to see it again!


I have an update about my dog for you too. You may recall that I took him to his first nosework class last weekend - and he was uninterested in the treats (which I had been worried about), and then he pee'd on the floor. Not the great start I hoped we'd get off to.... but this weekend I took him to his second class. I came prepared with a different variety of treats - and so did the instructor. she gave me some freeze dried liver treats to try - which Morpheus LOVED. I also delayed his breakfast and made him go hungry to see if that would make a difference. (don't worry he got breakfast when he got home) ;) ...I'm not sure which one made the difference, but he was a changed dog. With the first search he didn't quite know what we were supposed to be up to, but as soon as he discovered the liver treat in the box, he knew exactly what game we were playing. From then on he was exactly like he is at home with the nosework game. It's tough to stump him, and he can find his prize pretty quickly. in fact, he routinely found the treat faster than any of the other dogs, and he was sure running around the room sniffing quicker than the other dogs. He's also not shy about shoving his head right into the boxes and knocking things over when they're in his way. (one of the other dogs in his class is exactly the opposite. she gets nervous if she even gets close enough to barely touch one of the boxes. if she knocked them around like Morpheus does, she'd probably have a doggie heart attack. she reminds me of a dog version of Masaaki). Morpheus also did not pee on anything this week. i guess the correction he got last week for it was enough to make him think twice about where the toilet is.

I'm going to try to get a video of him doing his nosework homework this week, so you can see him "at work" - it's really pretty awesome to see him do it.